BPMInstitute.org defines Business Process Management (BPM) as the definition, improvement and management of a firm’s end-to-end enterprise business processes in order to achieve three outcomes crucial to a performance-based, customer-driven firm: 1) clarity on strategic direction, 2) alignment of the firm’s resources, and 3) increased discipline in daily operations.

Traditional methods of performance management focus on department & functional unit performance.  BPM focuses on the management and continuous improvement of cross functional processes.  This involves continuous monitoring, evaluation, measurement and process innovation.  These cross-functional processes must be clearly defined and documented.  Process performance objectives in terms of time, quality, cost and productivity must be defined.  Process teams and process owners must be established.

In December 2011, the BPMInstitute participated in a Forrester research report entitled “The Forrester Wave: BPM Training And Certification Programs, Q2 2012” (May 2012) of the training and certification programs offered in business process management.  BPMInstitute.org has made the report available to our readers, for a limited time.  This article provides additional comments on the topics presented in the Forrester report.  The report’s research findings agree with our own research into our student’s objectives for taking BPM training.

This two-part series explores methods of actively evaluating risk as part of business processes, and incorporating elements of risk deterrence into business process models. In Part 1, we explored the context and precedents for our research. As we learned, achieving a stronger integration between risk analysis and process modeling promises to improve the quality of the modeled processes and increase the percentage of positive business outcomes those processes achieve. In this final part of the series, we will describe an innovative approach to incorporating risk management directly into business process models using the standard Business Process Model & Notation (BPMN), version 2.0.

Risk assessments have become more common recently, and for good reason.  We read headlines daily about data breaches, high-dollar investments gone wrong, and companies that took a market risk that didn’t pay off.

Risk increases as a result of change, whether internally or externally triggered.  Examples of internally driven change include executing a new project, launching a new product, or changing a process.  Regulatory requirements, market changes, competitive challenges, and new security threats change the risk profile even when a company is conducting business as usual.  Enterprises are never done with assessing risks; there is no such thing as “steady state” when it comes to risks.